US urges Israel to spare Gaza homes

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THE United States criticised Israel’s decision to demolish hundreds of homes in a Gaza refugee camp yesterday, and residents fled the expected bulldozers.

Condoleezza Rice, the US National Security Adviser, said after talks in Berlin with Ahmed Qureia, the Palestinian Prime Minister, that the demolition was “a subject of concern”. Some of the Israelis’ actions “don’t create the best atmosphere”, she said. At the weekend Colin Powell, the Secretary of State, said that the US opposed “wholesale bulldozing of houses” in Gaza.

Yesterday families gathered whatever possessions they could and fled Rafah refugee camp, where tanks and bulldozers have levelled